Fairytale for two girl
by Only Secret
Summary: Happily ever after is different in Hidden villages, Ino and Sakura realize. After all, kunoichi in making are raised differently. [a short series of drabble portraying the time after Sasuke left, before time skip]
1. Once upon a time,

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto because otherwise, Deidara and Tobi will still be frolicking around!

A/N: It's been ages since I've updated anything or written on Hopefully completing this little series will get me back on track of writing. Some of you may have read this on Caught in the Moment, I've decided to take it out of there to expand on it. I hope you'll review for it and tell me what you think.

A/N: This is an interlude between the night Sasuke left Konoha and the return of the Retrieval Team...way before time skip.

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**Fairytale for two girls**

Ino doesn't believe in fairytales or happily-ever-afters. In a Hidden Village where 'life' is just another name for kunai and shuriken, one has to be very naïve or stupid to believe in them. Ino is neither. But she likes to think that she does; because it somehow justifies her impulsive actions – like jumping out and bringing her teammates along to face their possible death. ('Sasuke-kun _did_ come to save me,' she tells them later)

It also justifies her running to Sakura and demands to know what has happened. It's an open secret that Sakura is the last one to see Uchiha Sasuke before his 'trip' ('_Betrayal,_' her mind always echoes) but no one dares to sprinkle salt on that bare and open and _bleeding_ wound on Sakura.

In Ino's fairytale, Sakura is the princess, Sasuke is the prince, she is the knight and happily-ever-after is Sakura by her side and Sasuke smiling again.


	2. The Princess

Sakura does ('_did_' she angrily corrects whenever red and black eyes flashes in her head) believe in marrying her true love one day. Her true love had been Ino; then it had been Sasuke and then it had multiplied, still multiplies, and she had lost count. She isn't sure who she loves more and who she loves less now.

But this still doesn't stop the pain of her incompetence at the base of her neck. No one talk or even whisper about it. She figures everyone knows though – all Uchiha are dead and it doesn't take long to find the last one gone from the village too. Sakura thinks ('_thought_' – her tenses are still wrong) her love would be enough because it's always what the Prince needs and for once, she can save someone.

Ino runs towards her and grabs her.

If Sakura tells a story then, it would be about a fairy godmother, a dark wizard and a foolish girl who thought she can rescue him.


	3. and The Knight

"Why happened to Sasuke-kun? Why did he leave? _Why didn't you stop him?_"

She doesn't sprinkle salt. Ino _rubs_ it in.

She knows what has happened but she wants, needs, to hear it from Sakura's own mouth. It is like a girl asking to be told a well known story. It is also like a warrior trying to bleed the poison out from a wound.

The bloody gash weeps but Ino doesn't expect Sakura to apologize. She expects a fighting Sakura, not the crying girl she found in the park with hair in her face. Sakura does not cry in front of her anymore, but today she has the same stench of defeat about her as the crying girl.

And suddenly she is angrier than she has ever been.


	4. Found

Sakura still wonders sometimes.

She wonders whether Ino is a little girl (with her cruel jibes and angry glares) or a ninja-turning-into-kunoichi (who knows weaknesses need to be bleed out). Sakura thinks she is a bit of both when Ino demands her to explain what has happened.

Ino ostracizes ineptitude like a knight banishes evil.

The base of her neck still hurt even though she had stopped needing to crane her neck to look at Ino in the face. (A part of her wishes that Sasuke-kun isn't so good and leaves her with something darker and more colorful to explain the pain.)


	5. a Different

She is angry at Sakura for being so hurt and so weak and…and So. Damn. Naïve. ('You didn't fight him, did you? You didn't really try, _did you?_' her mind accuses) Konoha is a shinobi village, no matter how little of its force is left; there is no way a yell won't attract attention.

She is angry at Sasuke-kun for leaving, for being such a bastard (he _abandons_ them when everything is such a mess) and most of all, for hurting them. Ino wants to believe that Sasuke-kun is their Prince. And it sucks, because he isn't.

She is angry with herself too – for making Sakura hurt and believing Uchiha Sasuke is good for her ('he isn't, and he needs to be bled out. Now.'). It pisses her that she is wrong and now, she can't pretend that there is a fairytale.

Ino is a rash girl and she does the first thing that comes to her mind: She punches Sakura.


	6. Ending

In fairytales, the first one to fight is always wrong, and the damsel is just a cry away from help. Because Sakura doesn't believe in fairytales anymore and knows that crying won't win wars, she punches back.

She isn't even shock that Ino punched her. (Life isn't a pretty picture and girls in hidden villages don't hug and make up.) She thinks Ino expected her to cry because their Prince left. She _felt_ like crying but Incompetence is a great taskmaster. Sakura is surprised that she sees the good in the situation.

Sasuke-kun is finally making her strong.

She isn't surprised to find herself smiling.


	7. to Their

It makes her sick, because she realizes, and somehow knows that she's always known, that there is no Prince to save Sakura and herself.

They have to save each other.

And Sakura is smiling that insane smile of hers…like she has known all along. Ino isn't sure who wanted to believe in fairytales in the first place anymore. She isn't sure who is the princess, the knight or the prince anymore. Ino's fairytale has a princess who wields a sword, a crying knight and a man who is supposed to be but isn't a prince.

"Stop smiling." She whispers and she shakes. "Stop smiling…stop smiling please…"


	8. Fairytale

Ino is crying.

Of all the things she expects ('Expect the unexpected.' Kakashi-sensei's voice rings), she does not expect Ino ('strong, willful, blunt, beautiful, her _knight_') to cry.

There was a point in Sakura's life (from a time long ago) when she used to think Sakura meant Ino and it was a time of murkiness because she didn't really know who Sakura was.

That time is long gone but Sakura knows she still shares a lot with Ino – their stubbornness, their damn pride, their madness…there is and always will be a madness between them. It's not the type madness that makes them want to kill each other. It's not the madness that had Naruto and Sasuke-kun running towards each other on the roof of the hospital. She doesn't lie to herself now: while stupid, stupid, naïve Naruto wanted acknowledgement, Sasuke wanted blood.

Ino and Sakura's madness is different. It's the type ('_intuition_' Inner Sakura likes to call it) that makes them know what to do at times like this.

She slumps down on the floor and make Ino sit next to her.

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_Once upon a time, there are two girls in a village. _

_One asks the other, "Do you believe in happily-ever-after?" _

_"I want to," the other girl answers. "But they're not true though." _

_The girl pauses and replies, "I will make yours happen. Then there's something for us to believe in." _

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A/N: Complete. Short, and I know there are comments on how each chapter is too short. I apologize for that, but to me, any longer, it's not a drabble (or a series of drabble). And sometimes, it make the situation all to complex. Although, neither Ino or Sakura truly needed saving in the end, I kind of like this portrayal. I don't know about my dear readers, but if someone (even if it's a girl) who promises to make my dream come true, I would cry out of gratitude and overwhelmed that she cares so much. Read and review? Please? I've been lacking in ideas lately, so bounce plot bunny off me, you just might get me writing again!! 


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